Sweet Talk
by BiG Finish
Summary: Lily's just broken up with a guy and james has, conviniently placed himself in a good position. What words has James said to Lily to completly turn around the image she thinks of him? PLZ R


**THE BEGINNING**

Lily sat curled up, hugging her pillow close to her and crying silently in to it.

"Aw, Lils, he was an arsehole." Jessica, Lily's lanky, tall, blonde, best friend soothed.

"Are you saying I went out with an arsehole? Because yesterday you told me we were perfect." Lily whispered.

"Looks can be deceiving, Lils." Jessica said quietly.

"But… everything was great. He loved me, I loved him. What in the world did I do wrong?" Lily sobbed into her pillow.

"Nothing! You did nothing wrong!" Jessica assured, rubbing Lily's back.

Lily nodded, noticed the lack of meaning in her best friends voice. She lay by Jessica and watched the fire as things whirled in and out of her mind. Jessica looked deep into the fire, thinking hard of something better to say.

Lily sat up, swung her legs over the side of the bed and picked up the note Oliver had given her just three days ago.

_Peace - Love resting_

_Patience - love waiting_

_Kindness - love showing itself sensitive to others feelings_

_Goodness - love making allowances_

_Faithfulness - love proving constant_

_Gentleness - Love yielding_

_Self control - love triumphating over selfish inclinations._

_Lily, you are my world. You bring all of these emotions when you are anywhere near me. I could never imagine life without you._

She rubbed her fingers of ever letter of each word, letting their meanings seep deep down into her. She stood up, letting a curious Jessica watch her as she held out the note to the fire and let it go, watching it float and spin gracefully into the burning, licking flames of the fire. She watched as the paper curled up and turned into black soot on the bottom of the fire place.

Lily turned around, wiped her face clean, picked up a tissue, blew her nose and faced her best friend. "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back soon."

Picking up her coat and fastening it tight around her, she left her confused best friend on the bed and walked, full of purpose, down the stairs and through the common room.

As she came out of the port hole, she walked up a flight of stairs, took a left, walked down a hall, took another flight of stairs, took a right, all the time watching her feet, walking steadily, one in front of the other.

By the tie Lily looked up to see where she was, she was slightly confused.

Lily was walking down a corridor with paintings all along the sides. They were all of backgrounds, no occupants stood in front. A shiver ran down Lily's spine and she looked up at the end of the corridor to where and open door was.

Curious, Lily walked towards it.

The door led to a small balcony over looking the forbidden forest and the lake. The dark night sky, filled with sparkling diamond stars, twinkled high above Lily breath-takingly.

Lily breathed out loudly as she looked at the beauty of the Hogwarts grounds below her.

"It's so easy to forget the beauty of Hogwarts, especially when you spend so much time indoors. But then a night like this comes along and changed all of that." Said a sweet, soft voice.

Lily jumped and span around.

"Potter! What are you doing here?" Lily snapped.

"Whoa! I could ask you the same thing!" James defended. "But I won't, because I'm not interested."

Lily frowned at James as he walked over to the railing and lent against it, looking over at the Forbidden Forest.

"Can you see them?" James asked, pointing at something above the tree tops.

"No, there's nothing there." Lily said, slightly crossed.

"What's this? Miss Evan's not paying attention in class? Surely not!" James joked, smirking.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I dropped Care of Magical Creatures after our fifth year, Potter."

"Ah yes, but we were told about them in our fifth year. They were in our paper." James said almost laughing, his eyes twinkling in the moons light. "You're probably one of those people who think the carriages pull themselves to the castle."

"Potter, the carriages are pulled by themselves." Lily said matter-of-factly.

"No. The thestrals pull them." James said simply with a far-away look.

Lily and James fell silent. Lily scanned the sky for anything that might give away a hint of a thestral, but found nothing.

"Heard you and Oliver broke up. You alright?" James said informally, looking at Lily.

Lily turned away. She hadn't talked much to James this year and either had he. Part of her still loathed him and resented him, but another part of her found him so interesting and mysterious.

"Perfect. Why wouldn't I be? He was just a guy." Lily said quietly, looking over the lake, watching a dark blob move across the lake then disappear below the water.

"Well he wasn't just any guy, was he? He was your boyfriend. The person you loved. The person you trusted and counted on. You gave him you heart and everything that came along with it. And what did he do in return?" James asked, speaking clearly and taking a step closer to Lily.

"Go on." Lily whispered, staring at her feet.

"He ran for the hills. He threw everything you gave him in your face. He tore apart the trust and love and took off." James said quietly.

"So… it was my fault. I went over the top?" Lily whispered.

"No. It was not your fault. Some relationships aren't always 50 – 50, some are 60-40 or 70-30. Lily you gave him what any nice, accepting boyfriend would love. But was it his to take? You gave him your whole heart. What did he give you?" James asked slowly, taking another step closer to Lily.

"How do you know all of this? Did Remus give you a lecture on it or something?" Lily asked confused, looking up into James's eyes.

"He did. But it was about stuff I already knew. I know it from experience. Nearly every girl would give me their heart on a platter if I agreed to go out with them. But I don't want that." James said strongly, looking up at the stars.

"Really?" Lily laughed with sarcasm. "No, I would never have thought for you to be the person to go out with any girl just to break their hearts."

"I do not! There are some beautiful girls here, some with personality, and some without. I didn't mean to break their hearts, but how else do you let them down?" James said, obviously offended.

"Oh, thanks." Lily said crossing her arms. She was impressed by this James Potter.

"You know it's mainly Sirius who plays with the ladies. Me, being his best mate, I get copped with half he stuff he does. But I guess that's what mates are for." James sighed, a hidden smile underneath.

"I like this James Potter. He's more real and believing." Lily smiled to him.

James gave Lily a quirky look, followed by a wink and smile.

"Look, truth is, Oliver is a gutless piece of crap that spent everyday cheating on you with Silvia Romondon. But you don't exactly want to hear that when you've spent three months idolizing him and loving his flaws and adoring his features, do you?" James said swiftly.

"No. Not exactly." Lily whispered back.

"And it's not until it's over that you realize and see all of the evidence of where it started to go wrong." James said softly, taking another step closer to Lily, making it only a foot away from each other.

"I … I don't want to ever give my heart up ever again. I think I'll keep it to myself and when the right guy does come along, I'll be more careful and aware." Lily whispered, mainly to herself.

"Don't give up on love all together. It's what holds this world together. Don't shy away into dark corners tomorrow, prove everyone wrong and strut a little. You just had you first real relationship and it's ended in a broken heart. Well I want you to hold you head high and smile tomorrow, because you came out on top, you survived, you proved the asshole that you much better than he can ever be and you're going to make him sorry for even thinking of hurting you. You've learnt something valuable that no book could ever teach you. Don't even let any pity you either." James said strongly.

Lily nodded hopelessly, tears welling up in her emerald eyes and rolling down her face.

James leaned forward and hugged Lily tightly. Lily hugged him back just as tight and wiped her eyes dry on his shoulder.

"Let's go back to the common room; it's getting a little cold out here." James suggested.

* * *

The students of Gryffindor were quite shocked and surprised to see Lily Evans and James Potter sitting next to each other the next day for breakfast.

The friends of Lily and James were even more shocked when they found them talking pleasantly to each other.

The teacher of Hogwarts however were chuckling merrily to each other as other teachers reluctantly handed over coin for a bet that had been going since their first day.


End file.
